What Bitcoin Did

Peter McCormack is back on the show for a conversation on power, the state of the UK, and why the system is broken. We get into how debt, inflation, and centralised government incentives have hollowed out public services, destroyed the middle class, and turned politics into a fight over power rather than outcomes. Peter explains why inflation is the real tax, why asset inflation benefits elites at the expense of everyone else, and why neither the left nor the right is willing or able to fix the underlying problem. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Peter McCormack: https://x.com/PeterMcCormack

Simon Dixon joins the show for a conversation on money, power, and why Bitcoin exists at all. Drawing on decades inside investment banking and monetary reform, Simon explains why modern capitalism is not capitalism at all, how debt based money guarantees systemic collapse, and why governments are not the real locus of power. We trace the origins of central banking, fractional reserve lending, and the financial industrial complex, and why attempts at reform were always destined to fail. We then turn to Bitcoin as both an exit and a battleground. Simon lays out the real attack vectors facing Bitcoin today, from Wall Street financialisation and ETFs to corporate treasury centralisation and custody capture. He explains why self custody matters, why elites want different rules for themselves, and why Bitcoin can survive even if it is co-opted at the edges. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Simon Dixon: https://x.com/SimonDixonTwitt

American HODL & Matt Odell join the show for a review of a year that left most Bitcoin narratives exposed. We unpack why expectations ran ahead of reality, why the super cycle never materialised, and how ETFs, treasury companies, and institutional capital quietly changed how this market actually operates. We get into Bitcoin’s underperformance versus gold and equities, the absence of meaningful retail demand, and how leverage distorted outcomes rather than driving real adoption. We discuss what this means long term. From institutional involvement and shifting power structures, to the breakdown of the four year cycle framework. We also get into custody, incentives, freedom, and whether Bitcoin has to pass through the traditional system before it can meaningfully reshape it. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny American HODL: https://primal.net/hodl ODELL: https://primal.net/odell

Joe Carlasare joins the show for a breakdown of why Bitcoin’s sideways year has been so widely misread, and why sentiment today is the worst it's been. We get into why 2025 fell below expectations, why Bitcoin’s lack of volatility pushed capital toward AI stocks and gold, and the fall out from the October 10th liquidation event. We get into why the four year cycle narrative no longer fits a market shaped by ETFs, options, and institutional hedging, why calendar based thinking has become a liability, and why a year of consolidation may be working off excess rather than signalling weakness. Joe explains why a new all time high in 2026 would be one of the most bullish developments in Bitcoin’s history, permanently breaking cycle psychology, and lays out what could shift Bitcoin from hard mode back into a structurally bullish macro asset as liquidity, positioning, and confidence come back. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Joe Carlasare: https://x.com/JoeCarlasare

David Dredge joins the show for a deep dive into why risk is being dangerously misunderstood across global markets, and why Bitcoin’s recent underperformance may actually be a symptom of structural stress, not failure. David explains why volatility itself isn’t the risk, why leverage is the real accelerant, and how TradFi risk models quietly manufacture systemic blow-ups. We unpack how suppressed volatility, ETFs, options markets, and structured products are changing Bitcoin’s market structure, why leverage is creeping in through Wall Street rather than native crypto venues, and how max pain dynamics emerge when under-capitalised risk builds up. David breaks down why the four-year cycle narrative is breaking down, why Bitcoin’s muted year isn’t about demand weakness, and how positioning ultimately drives outcomes. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny David Dredge: https://x.com/ConvexityDredge

Jeff Ross joins the show for a breakdown of why the global financial system is cracking and why Bitcoin’s recent weakness may be the setup. We discuss why governments are trapped into monetising debt, why inflation is no longer a policy choice, and how deflation could ultimately kill fiat currencies altogether. Jeff also explains why the four year Bitcoin cycle is effectively dead, how a multi-year U.S. manufacturing recession has quietly dragged Bitcoin lower, and why liquidity and economic reality matter far more than narratives or price models. We also get into Japan’s bond yield shock and the unwind of the yen carry trade, why rising rates there are sending stress through global markets, and what it signals about the end of the easy-money era. Jeff lays out why the world is slowly moving away from the U.S. dollar as the global reserve asset, why gold is already repricing, and why Bitcoin’s real breakout may come later, driven by structural pressure. We explore the 2026 inflection point, government-picked winners like AI and manufacturing and the risk of global deflation. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny

Sam Callahan is the Director of Strategy & Research at OranjeBTC. In this episode we discuss why Bitcoin’s fundamentals have never been stronger, why Bitcoin periodically decouples from global liquidity, how internal market dynamics can override macro conditions, and why today’s divergence between improving fundamentals and weak price action may actually be one of the most misunderstood moments in this cycle and why the four-year cycle framework is increasingly unreliable. We also get into the deeper structural risks facing the global financial system, from fiscal dominance and runaway deficits to the looming insolvency of Social Security and Medicare. Sam walks through why entitlement spending, demographics, and interest expense create a problem that can’t be solved politically, only postponed monetarily. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Sam Callahan: https://x.com/samcallah

Saifedean Ammous joins the show to explain why the real collapse didn’t begin in 1971, but in 1914, and how fiat money quietly rewired civilisation itself. We break down how governments escaped monetary discipline through war finance, why inflation destroys savings, culture, and long-term thinking, and how central banks learned to fund wars, empires, and endless deficits without public consent. Saifedean walks through the hidden monetary history of World War I, the death of the gold standard, and why fiat money wasn’t an accident, but a power grab that reshaped the modern world. We also dig into Bitcoin as the first real alternative to this system, not as an ideology, but as a price technology. He explains why Bitcoin’s price is the only scoreboard that matters, how money itself is a market with a $300T addressable size, and why Bitcoin doesn’t need fiat to collapse in order to win. We explore nation-state adoption, gold vs Bitcoin, why reserve assets reprice suddenly not gradually, and why Bitcoin is still early. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Saifedean Ammous: https://x.com/saifedean

Eric Yakes joins the show to discuss what’s really driving Bitcoin right now and why price is determined by fundamentals, not cycles or models. We break down how marginal supply and marginal demand actually work in Bitcoin, why the four-year cycle may never have been real, and how years of behind-the-scenes work inside institutions and regulators lead to the sudden headlines that reprice the market. We also dig into sovereign wealth funds, nation-state reserve adoption, and why Bitcoin is still one announcement away from a major move. Eric explains why liquidity, not ideology, is the real constraint, why gold still dominates today, and what Bitcoin needs to reach true reserve-asset status. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Eric Yakes: https://x.com/ericyakes

Jeff Walton joins the show for a deep dive into the state of Bitcoin treasury companies, the rise of digital credit, and why we may be entering the most aggressive phase of institutional Bitcoin adoption yet. We get into Paper Bitcoin Winter, why so many treasury companies are trading below 1× MNAV, and whether the original playbook of issuing equity, & buying Bitcoin may be running out of road. Jeff breaks down why the model isn’t dead, how yield markets are evolving at lightning speed, and why optionality, scale, and genuine operational talent will decide who survives the coming shakeout. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Jeff Walton: https://x.com/PunterJeff

Erik Hersman, Phillip Walton, Eric Yakes & Mark Kamau join the show for a deep dive into energy, mining, and the reality of electrifying Africa — and why Bitcoin is quietly unlocking possibilities no NGO or government has ever managed to achieve. We get into the wild journey across northern Kenya to the forgotten village of Saru where communities live without electricity, refrigeration, or basic infrastructure, and where abundant energy would completely transform life, opportunity, and even culture. Philip and Eric explain why transmission lines will never be built, why NGOs fail 90% of the time, and how Bitcoin mining finally makes it economically viable to electrify the most remote places on earth. They break down how Gridless finds stranded energy, models profitable solar and hydro builds, and partners with local elders, schools, and entrepreneurs to create real markets — not handouts. We dig into the coming era of “energy first, mining second,” the circular Bitcoin economies emerging across Kenya, why M-Pesa makes Nairobi the easiest city in the world to live on Bitcoin, and how Lightning will become the payment layer for off-grid power. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Erik Hersman: https://x.com/whiteafrican/ Phillip Walton: https://linkedin.com/in/philip-walton-nairobi Eric Yakes: https://x.com/ericyakes Mark Kamau: https://x.com/mark_kamau

Seb Bunney joins the show for a conversation about broken money, distorted reality maps, and why Bitcoin might be the only force capable of realigning society. We get into his personal journey from mountain-bike coaching in Whistler and realising hard work no longer pays, to discovering how central banks, misaligned incentives, and financialisation quietly shape everything from housing and family life to politics and culture. Seb explains why so many young people are turning to socialism, why democracies can’t change course, and how separating money and state could be the only viable path forward. Seb also breaks down his new essay The Curated World — exploring linguistic control, scientific gatekeeping, suppressed technologies, the Invention Secrecy Act, and why “the map is not the territory.” We dig into Bitcoin’s role as a truth-seeking mechanism, what happens when incentives flip from intervention to value creation, and how free markets, energy breakthroughs, and longer lifespans could transform civilisation far beyond money. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Seb Bunney: https://x.com/sebbunney

George Bodine joins the show for a wild conversation about the fourth turning, AI, quantum, and why he believes the next 3–5 years will be the most volatile period in Bitcoin history. We get into his insane life story — from trailer parks to flying F-18s at Top Gun, ejecting from a crashing jet, working underground as a miner, becoming a pro artist, and eventually going all-in on Bitcoin. George breaks down why he thinks the financial crisis never ended, how AI and robotics will erase millions of jobs, the global arms race for compute and energy, and why quantum could hit faster than people expect. We dig into Bitcoin’s real threats — mining centralisation, quantum-vulnerable coins, BIP444, and the Core vs Knots fight dividing the community. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY SWAN FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny

Phong Le, CEO of Strategy, joins the show to break down exactly how the world’s biggest Bitcoin treasury company works. The Bitcoin-backed credit markets, the preferreds, the leverage, and how Strategy keeps buying Bitcoin in bull and bear markets. We dig into how MicroStrategy pivoted during 2020, how Phong and Michael Saylor built the Bitcoin treasury model from scratch, and why Strategy believes Bitcoin is still radically undervalued. Phong explains Strike, Strife, Stride, and Stretch, how these preferreds create Bitcoin yield, why they work even when price is down, and how Strategy thinks about dilution, MNAV premiums, and raising billions without selling sats. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN RIVER ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Phong Le: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phong-le-b53520

Max Guise from Block joins the show to break down one of the biggest leaps forward for Bitcoin self-custody: BitKey’s new privacy upgrade, why it matters, and how it removes one of the last major trade-offs between safety and privacy. We get into how BitKey’s new chaincode-delegation system prevents Block from seeing balances or transactions, and why this BIP unlocks a new era for private, user-friendly multisig. We also get into Square switching on Bitcoin payments across the US and why that’s a much bigger deal than most people realise - removing the friction of onboarding merchants and making Bitcoin everyday money. As well as the structural risk of mining centralisation, how relying on a handful of foreign ASIC manufacturers threatens Bitcoin’s long-term resilience, and how Proto’s approach is designed to spread hashpower, strengthen the network, and give miners real optionality for the first time in years. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN RIVER ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Max Guise: https://x.com/max_guise

Checkmate and Alec Dejanovic from Checkonchain break down what’s really happening with Bitcoin’s price. The unprecedented long-term holder sell-off, the spot buyers absorbing billions, and why this cycle looks less like a normal bull market and more like a Great Rotation. We get into old coins coming back to life, sovereign accumulation, stalled ETF flows, and why the real story isn’t who is selling, it’s who has the balance sheet to buy this much Bitcoin. Checkmate also explains the true market mean at $82K, how to spot bottom formation, why 70% of Bitcoin’s cost basis now sits above $85K, and how ETFs and iBit options are reshaping Bitcoin’s entire market structure. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN RIVER ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Checkmate: https://x.com/\_Checkmatey\_ Alec Dejanovic: https://x.com/alec_rhythmic

Mark Suman is the co-founder of Maple, a fully private, open-source AI. Mark breaks down how Big Tech and governments are using AI to harvest data, profile behaviour, and build the foundations of a coming surveillance system. We get into closed-source models tracking your thoughts and emotions, AGI hype vs reality and the rise of Chinese open-source AI and why private, verifiable AI is the only path that doesn’t lead to mass influence and behavioural control. We also get into how anonymous AI accounts are only possible with Bitcoin, why Lightning and eCash still matter, how miners are navigating the AI-compute boom, and why open protocols are the only safeguard in a world where AI intermediates your money, identity, and communication. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN RIVER ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Mark Suman: https://x.com/marksuman

Lyn Alden is a macroeconomist, investor, and the author of Broken Money, known for her deep analysis of liquidity cycles, fiscal dominance, and long-term market structure. In this episode, Lyn breaks down the major macro shift happening right now, the end of quantitative tightening, the turning point in global liquidity, and what this means for Bitcoin, gold, interest rates, and risk assets. She explains why QT is effectively finished, how repo market stress is signalling a balance-sheet pivot, why fiscal dominance is driving inflation, and why Bitcoin’s stagnation has more to do with liquidity and capital rotation than the halving cycle. We discuss the real reason Bitcoin is flat in 2025, how AI has redirected investment flow away from BTC, why OG-holder distribution still shapes every cycle, and why the four-year Bitcoin cycle is dead. Lyn also breaks down gold’s explosive run, the mechanics of fiscal deficits, the “nothing stops this train” thesis, and how the next phase of global liquidity will impact Bitcoin, gold, equities, and the broader macro environment. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN RIVER ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Lyn Alden: https://x.com/LynAldenContact or https://primal.net/lyn

Rob Hamilton is the co-founder and CEO of Anchor Watch, a Bitcoin custody and insurance provider. In this episode, Rob breaks down BIP-444, the proposed soft fork aimed at stopping spam. He explains why it represents the most contentious governance moment since the block-size wars, what the proposal actually changes, how it could trigger chain splits and reorgs, and why he believes the effort has almost no chance of success. We discuss the economics, incentives, and psychology behind the new fork movement, why filters failed, how miners really behave under fee pressure, and why futures markets can ultimately determine whether a fork has any economic weight. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN RIVER ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny Rob Hamilton: https://x.com/Rob1Ham

SeedSigner is an open-source Bitcoin signing device. In this episode, SeedSigner breaks down why trustless hardware matters and why Bitcoin security is a journey, not a destination. He explains how hardware wallets have become a “cat-and-mouse” game of exploits and firmware trust, why he chooses to trust math over manufacturers, and how SeedSigner gives users a verifiable, DIY alternative to commercial wallets. We discuss the evolution of Bitcoin custody, from paper wallets to multisig, and how SeedSigner empowers users to hold keys without relying on opaque supply chains. SeedSigner also shares lessons from his years in digital forensics, why most people’s threat model is themselves, and how open-source sovereignty could become Bitcoin’s last line of defence against capture. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: IREN RIVER ANCHORWATCH BLOCKWARE LEDN BITKEY FOLLOW: Danny Knowles: https://x.com/\_DannyKnowles or https://primal.net/danny SeedSigner: https://x.com/SeedSigner